This essay discusses my reflection on whether or not felons should have the right to vote. A felon is defined as a person who has been convicted of a felony, which is a crime punishable by death or a term in state or federal prison. A felony is a serious crime usually punishable by imprisonment or death. Convicted felons should not be allowed to vote. Many Americans were not allowed to vote these past elections. It wasn’t because they didn’t pay taxes or were mentally incompetent or underage. The reason why they can’t vote is because they are convicted felons. Once someone has committed a serious crime or felony, they have shown that they are not trustworthy enough to vote. Because they disobeyed the law, they should not have the obligation to vote. If one is sent to prison, they have agreed that most of their rights have been taken. Prison is meant to be a punishment and one of their punishments is their loss of freedom and democratic rights for their time of their sentence. Convicted felons have also demonstrated poor judgment and should not be trusted with a vote. The main point of a prison sentence to show the offender and society that criminal behavior results in loss of freedom and most of the rights that freedom has to offer. Therefore felons should not be allowed to vote. Although some people believe that felons should be allowed to vote at any circumstance but I believe that if they are felons they have already lost that opportunity because they have decided to make the choice to participate in criminal activities. If the felon is not willing to follow the law himself, then they should not demand the right to vote. In California, felons serving time in prison or county jail are denied their right to vote. According to The Sentencing Project, 5.3 million Americans were unable to vote in 2008 due to a felony conviction. Unfortunately, statistics show that this number is expected to rise to 6 million....

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...ShouldFelons be Allowed to Vote?
About 5.26 million people with a felony conviction are not allowed to vote in elections. Each state has its own laws on disenfranchisement. Nine states in America permanently restrict felons from voting while Vermont and Maine allow felons to vote while in prison. Proponents of felon re-enfranchisement believefelons who have paid their debt to society by completing their sentences should have all of their rights and privileges restored. They argue that efforts to block ex-felons from voting are unfair, undemocratic, and politically or racially motivated. Opponents of felon voting say the restrictions are consistent with other voting limitations such as age, residency, mental capacity, and other felon restrictions such as no guns for violent offenders. They say that convictedfelons have demonstrated poor judgment and should not be trusted with a vote. I believe convictedfelonsshould be allowed to vote upon release from prison because they exercise good judgment; in addition, withholding their right to vote would be a violation of the US Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the eighth amendment....

...ShouldFelons Be Allowed To Vote?
The disenfranchisement of a person is a heavy topic that you only hear about every four years during the Presidential Election. Why though? The reason: everyone has an opinion on the issue, but only few are willing to say anything about it. Some are afraid of the racial issue our country sees, and some are afraid to sway against their preferred political party.
The Constitution of the United States of America, amendment 14, section 2, clearly states “…citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.” (US 1876) Of course, this has been ratified some and the age was changed from 21 years of age to 18 years of age in 1971 in the added 26th amendment (US 1971) and women were given the 14th amendment in 1971 as well in the 29th amendment. (US 1971) In 95 years, the Constitution was amended to include women and to change the minimum age of voting.
In estimate, 5.26 million people across the United States are disenfranchised (numbers established in 2004; ProCon.org) The U.S. PopClock projects that in the month of December 2011 there is approximately 312,764,889 people living in the United States. (Census.gov) According to...

...Shouldfelons be allowed to vote?
A Felon: A person who has been convicted of a felony, which is a crime punishable by death or a term in state or federal prison. A felony is a serious crime usually punishable by whole-life imprisonment or capital punishment. In other words a felony is a big deal. Felons have been convicted of a crime including, or in the same category as murder, rape, arson, and burglary. It is because of this that many believe that felons do not deserve the right to vote. Those against felons voting believe that those convicted of crime have shown bad-judgment, which proves them unfit to make good decisions, especially choosing the nation's leaders.
However, there are also those that believe that felons have paid enough of a price by serving their assigned sentence. One of the major questions in this controversy is what exactly are the rights of ex-felons? Many of the supporters of a felon’s right to vote believe that it is unfair to seemingly punish them twice for the same act. “Felons who are out of prison have largely served the punishment prescribed by the judicial system. Shouldn't that be enough?” They believe that incarceration and losing their right to vote would be too many punishments for one crime....

...ShouldFelons Be Able to Vote?
“We let ex-convicts marry, reproduce, buy beer, own property and drive. They don’t lose their freedom of religion, their right against self-incrimination… they can’t be trusted to help choose our leaders… If we thought criminals could never be reformed, we wouldn’t let them out of prison in the first place (Chapman, Steve).” Many believe that felonsshould be able to vote due to the fact that they served their time in prison and already received their consequence. When felons already served their time, they are told they have their “freedom”. Yet, they do not have the same rights they did before they were arrested. Felons have paid enough of a price by serving their assigned sentence which shouldn’t lead into having the right to vote taken away from them.
On the other hand, others believe that felons do not deserve the right to vote. Such as, Ehrlinch, “I don’t think you reward the franchise to those who commit the most horrific crimes… (Ehrlinch, Robert).” He states that, voting is a reward and felons shouldn’t be rewarded because of their crimes. They also believe felons who convicted a crime have shown bad-judgment, which proves them unfit to make good decisions, especially choosing the nation's leaders. Although many believe that if...

...Political Science 1010
20 November 2013
Shouldfelons be allowed to vote?
As a college student who does not have a felony on their record and is not familiar with the extremities of the justice system and voting laws I have taken is upon myself to do some reasearch on the positive and negatives of having voting rights. I have also taken into consideration many other peoples point of views from the internet and from this I have formed the opinion that felonsshould in fact have the right to vote. This might not be the most popular, right, or wrong thing to do but it is how I feel and I have brainstormed three very logical points on why felonsshould regain their right to vote after their release from prison. These three well thought out reasons are; if voting directly effects felons why should they be denied the right to effect voting results?, they pay into taxes just like everyone else so they should be able to decide how their taxes are being used, and because America is a democracy which means having the representation of everyone. While reading my paper, keeping an open mind will help in forming a just and effective opinion.
The first logical reasons explaining why felonsshould be allowed to vote is because voting...

...ufeffDakota Wilson
April 1, 2013
ENC 1101
Laura Radford
Are Convicted Athletes Being Fairly Punished For Their Crimes?
When a college or professional athlete is charged with a crime, it seems the whole world is watching; the story is covered by nearly every newspaper, tabloid, and television station. Regardless of whether or not they were given a fair trial, or if the outcome is actually even true, the extent of their punishment stops directly after their sentence has been carried out. A few community service hours, maybe even some time behind bars, and of course, the burden of being hounded by the paparazzi. But despite being charged for sometimes even the most heinous of crimes, athletes are still welcomed back onto the playing field, court, ring, etc. This kind of special treatment towards athletes simply because of their celebrity status is both morally and ethically unjust, and needs to be put to a stop.
If an employee at a restaurant were charged and convicted of rape, it is almost certain that they would be fired for moral reasons, bad publicity, or any reasons in-between. So why is it that when a college or professional athlete is charged with the same crime, they are still allowed to continue to play? Granted, there have been instances that the convicted athlete has been asked to leave the team. For instance, Marcus Vick, who was finally dismissed from Virginia Tech’s football team after a...

...English 111
December 12, 2012
ConvictedFelonsShould Not Be Allowed to Vote
Many Americans were not allowed to vote these past elections. It wasn’t because they didn’t pay taxes or were mentally incompetent or underage. The reason why they can’t vote is because they are convictedfelons. Certain states do not give back the right tovote after Ex-convictedfelons have paid their debts or completed their time in jail. Some states have a probation period before the ex-felon is allowed to vote. There are some states that go to the extent to never return the right to vote to felons or ex-felons. The right to vote to felonsshould be taken away as a form of punishment. After completing their time in jail felons, which now are ex-felons, should have their right to vote restored.
A felony is a serious crime usually punishable by imprisonment or death. Felons are people that have been convicted of a crime such as murder, rape, arson, child molest, drug offender and burglary. Virginia is one of many states that takes the right to vote away from felons as a...

...people however who are also suffering due to low incomes and other challenges that arise from living in a new country. Political leaders trying to get elected attempt to base their campaigns which are meant to help this target group. Unfortunately most of these people are not citizens and therefore they can't vote for them. This leads to the politicians who address the citizens of the nation to winning the election. As a result the non citizens don't get the help they need. Without help, these non citizens find it very difficult to reach their goals and settling down with comfort. The concept of having non citizens voting in municipal elections isn’t a foreign idea. However there is a lot of opposition which is very reasonable. Non citizens should not be granted the right to vote in municipal elections because it could decrease the number of non citizens seeking citizenship, makes the election more expensive than it already is and increases the administrative process to identify a way to select who can vote, and is unfair for current citizens of the nation who earned their citizenship and proved they want to be active citizens.
For a non citizen to become eligible to vote they must first become a citizen of the nation. The requirements vary by nation but usually there are two requirements that are standard. First they must live for a certain period of time in that country and write a test which...

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